The Black Fox [Gakuen Alice Fanfiction]

Central Town

“Shut up.”

I flashed an innocent grin. “What? Did you want me to call you cute, as well?” I hear him scoff in response. “But seriously, who is he?”

“Hijiri Youichi, 3 years old. He’s from class A, but is attached to Natsume so sometimes comes to class B to play.” Like a dog catching scent of food, Permy rushed over. “I think Natsume playing with children is wonderful!” She proceeded to gush.

“Geez, Perm-head, do you have a Natsume-and-Ruka radar or something? I swear you can always detect—” I start off, only to be interrupted.

“Please come with us to Central Town!” Mikan and the class president were kneeling before Natsume’s feet. Hotaru was behind the two, watching.

“What’s going on?”

Is that the No-Star asking Natsume on a date?”

Their antics drew the attention of the class, with most people observing curiously from a distance.

Finally Mikan looked and took notice of the child in her partner’s arms. “Cuuuute! Is that kid yours?”

“I’ll burn you.” Her question had obviously irritated him, triggering his icy—more like heated—response. Mikan just had that effect on people.

She moved her face closer to Youichi’s and Permy did the same. “I thought so! They look like each other!”

“Idiot.” What came out of the child’s moth shocked the two girls. I saw Natsume whisper something into Youichi’s ear just before the child uttered another word. “Ugly.” Once again, Natsume’s lips were near the child’s ear. “Go ahway mwonkys.”

“…they actually make a good pair,” Hotaru remarked, and Ruka and I had to nod in agreement.  

“Yo-chan shouldn’t be with such a nasty person.” Mikan extended her hands towards Youichi. “Here, come with big sis instead.

“Ah, I forgot to tell you that his Alice is ‘Control of Evil Spirits’, so…” Just as Ruka spoke, Mikan started getting assaulted by apparitions of numerous shapes and sizes. “…too late.”

“Ahaha!” Hotaru just laughed at the sight of her friend being attacked.

I managed to catch a small smile playing on Natsume’s lips for a split second, just before it disappeared, when he was patting Youichi’s head in congratulations for scaring the two girls off.

Youichi pointed at the Central Town sign that Mikan was caring earlier and looked imploringly at Natsume, and Natsume nodded in a silent acquiescence.

~*~*~*~*~

Unfamiliar sights and sounds were all around me as I took in the sight. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Many colorful iinventions, both practical and impractical were sold on stalls on the street. Mikan’s mouth hung open as she took everything in; I hoped that I didn’t look like that.

“We’ll split up here. Kai and I have thing to sell.” Hotaru grabbed me by the cuff of my sleeve, dragging me away from the party and into a store.

“Oh, if it isn’t Hotaru! You’ve brought a friend along! What do you want to sell today?” A smiling woman greeted us from the counter. From the looks of things, I guessed that Hotaru was a frequent seller here.   

“It’s not me who’s here to sell today. It’s him.” She pointed at me, gesturing me to move forward.

“What are you here to sell?” The owner asked me, a cordial smile on her face.

I unpacked the backpack I brought with me, setting multiple jars of liquid onto the counter. She picked up one and tuned it in her hands, stopping to read the label. “Oh. I’m sure this will sell very well…if it works, that is.” Her warm visage dropped from her face completely, revealing the face of an adept businesswoman underneath.

“It works.” I take out one last jar, much smaller than the rest, from my bag and placed it into her hand. “I brought this as a tester.”

“Wonderful.” She unscrews the cap and wafted the smell, sniffing delicately. “This smell…it’s lavender, isn’t it?”

I nodded in confirmation, and she continues. “It’s got a beautiful scent, but time to see it really works. She produced a pack of cotton swabs from her pocket, and dips them into the swirling, purple tinged liquid. It comes onto the cotton clear, and she hums happily. I assume it’s to her liking. Turning to a mirror on the counter, she dabbed away at her face. Seconds pass, and she seemed unsatisfied. Slowly, her frown turned back into a grin. “Yes, it works. I trust that the rest of them aren’t frauds?”

“Wouldn’t dream of selling you shams,” I replied.

“Heh…I see. Come back soon. I want to purchase some of these myself.”

“Will do.”

Minutes later, I walk out of the store, considerable richer than when I walked in. Hotaru had informed me that she had other things to sell, so she would be joining us later.

I guess it was time to join the others and buy some things for myself.

~+~+~+~+~

A.N. Sorry, it's been a while since I last updated. It's the holidays now, so I guess i'll be doing it more frequently. This story has almost reached 1000 reads! I'm so grateful for all my readers. Drop a comment or a vote it you enjoyed; I want to know how you think about this story. Bye!